The creativity of 30 Calgary artists who participated in an artist residency at the Leighton Art Centre in September is on display for public viewing.
The Millarville area art centre is showcasing the creations of members with Calgary’s Indefinite Art Centre, the oldest and largest disability arts organization for adults with developmental disabilities in Canada.
The exhibit, called Pushing Boundaries with Art, Nature and History: An Indefinite Arts Residency, is on display until Feb. 23.
Centre curator Stephanie Doll said the adults spent two days a week for three weeks at the rural centre experiencing its education program while learning to create landscapes with acrylic paints.
“This is the very first time we’ve done this with them,” Doll said. “We’ve worked with the Indefinite Arts Centre before but we’ve never done a residency where we brought the artists in and had them participate in our education program and had them exhibit work in that program.
“It’s a nice connection between our art gallery and our education centre.”
The pieces on display feature varying styles and colours, Doll said.
“One of the artists did a western theme and one of his paintings is called Man from Snowy River,” she said. “It has this amazing western feel to it. The work that they created is really uninhibited. They’ve got amazing skills to create these works. They’re just fascinating.”
Doll describes the pieces as colourful, joyful and playful.
“It’s an uninhibited look at the environment,” she said. “There are some really amazing artists in this group. We’re really excited to have a collaboration with these folks.”
Funding was provided by Calgary’s Rozsa Foundation, a philanthropic organization that supports and advocates for the arts in Alberta, which covered costs ranging from transportation to supplies.
Doll said the exhibition is as celebration of the residency program that showcases work created during the event and pieces the artists painted afterwards that were inspired by it.
Photographs of the residency will also be on display after each artists was given a camera to capture his or her experience.
The exhibit will be available for viewing during the centre’s winter hours Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is by donation.
